FORD engine performance is set to be revisited as Supercars resumes work on the technical parity front this week.
Despite a recent aero tweak and Anton De Pasquale/Dick Johnson Racing combining to deliver the Blue Oval a long-awaited first-across-the-line Gen3 win on Sunday in Townsville, it’s widely accepted that the matter is not yet closed.
Rear tyre life again proved debilitating for the Ford fleet, with Saturday podium finisher Chaz Mostert especially critical of the situation.
MORE: Support growing for Supercars wind tunnel testing
It was revealed on Sunday night that there’ll be more parity testing this week, understood to be conducted by Supercars with homologation team DJR at Queensland Raceway.
Victorian-based Ford teams also have a test day at Winton Motor Raceway scheduled for July 18.
Walkinshaw Andretti United co-owner Ryan Walkinshaw praised Supercars for its relentless efforts but was clear that issues remain.
“It’s good for Ford to finally get a win but let’s bear in mind that that win was because Anton had an extra set of green tyres from (Saturday) because he had a DNF,” he told V8 Sleuth.
“So if the solution to parity is to give the Ford teams an extra set of four green tyres more than the Camaros every weekend, then maybe that’s the solution… but I don’t think that’s the best way to try to go about it.”
Walkinshaw added: “There’s still work being done on the driveability of the Fords, there’s still work being done on the engine performance of the Fords which we know are quantifiable issues that we have disparity between us and the Camaro.
“The sport, from my working with them, has been nothing but motivated to try to get this all resolved.
“I think Supercars has done a really, really good job going through the parity process and the review since the parity trigger happened.
“I think all the Ford teams are happy that the process is happening the way that it is.
“We know there’s still issues, Supercars are motivated to resolve them as are Ford teams, and the GM homologation team even agree that those issues exist so there’s no debate about this. We have got some work to do.
“We have solved a little bit of that this weekend with the aero adjustment.
“How much, we’re not really going to know until we go to a higher aero track, but there is still work to do on driveability because the tyre life of the Fords all weekend has been absolutely horrendous.”
Unresolved problems include those related to gearshift recovery, stuttering on cam timing and throttle response.
V8 Sleuth understands the Mustangs will imminently move from an 87mm throttle body to an 80mm, as is used in the Camaro.
“The thing that’s encouraging is the parity trigger was hit, there’s been a review, Supercars did a lot of work in the background to discover what the issues are and now we’re working on some solutions to fix them,” said Walkinshaw.
“We’ve had one of those this weekend and we’ll have some more hopefully before the next round, would be what I hope for.”
A couple of Australia’s most aero-sensitive circuits are next up on the calendar: Sydney Motorsport Park (July 28-30) and The Bend Motorsport Park (August 18-20).
